Supreme Court ruling hands victory to local historians protesting Steve Jobs plan to demolish his old house in order to build a new one on the plot.

Jobs has been attempting to get permission to demolish his $3.5 million house, "The Jackling House" in Woodside, which he aquired in 1984. The property has been left vacant since 2000.

He succesfully gained a permit to demolish and rebuild in 2001, but local history buffs have fought the move, culminating in a Supreme Court ruling last week which denied Jobs from his property-development dream.

While the 17,000-square-foot property is only under 100-years old (it was built in 1925), for US historians the Spanish Colonial revivalist home is a historic gem, partially because the country lacks the ancient history of Central Europe.

The property is designed to resemble a medieval Spanish village, with interior and exterior stucco walls built 14-inches apart to give the appearance of thick adobe or stone walls.

The house was also the forum for a doom-laden meeting of Apple staff on June 2 1985, two days after then Apple CEO John Sculley ousted Jobs as Apple executive vice president and general manager of the Macintosh division.

Local campaigners Uphold Our Heritage now hope Jobs will work with them to move the house to a different location, where it can be restored.

Jobs has frequently called the house a "dump" in his attempt to knock it down in order to build a smaller and more suitable residence for his family.